George Floyd dies of low oxygen levels, says medical expert in Derek Chauvin trial

Dr. Tobin, who was not paid to testify and said he had videotaped hundreds of times the arrest of Mr. Floyd looked, concluded that several factors impaired his breathing, including that he was squeezed between officers and the hard street. while officers pressed his handcuffed hands into his back.

“It’s like the left side is in a bench screw,” said dr. Tobin said. “He was flattened between the two sides.”

Dr. Tobin also testified that poor health and fentanyl did not play a crucial role in the death of Mr. Floyd did not play. He also said that the fact that Mr. Floyd spoke, does not mean he had trouble breathing. The evidence contradicted many of the points made by the defense, including that Mr. Floyd died of a combination of a heart condition and drugs.

” A healthy person who is subject to what Mr. Floyd subject, would have died, ” the doctor said, adding later: ” It’s very dangerous to think it’s okay because you can talk. ‘ ‘

Despite dr. Tobin’s finding that fentanyl does not slow the breathing of Mr. Floyd did not influence, Eric Nelson, Chauvin’s lawyer, urged him on the drug. He especially focused on how fentanyl can relate to dr. Tobin’s finding that Mr. Floyd died at a low level of oxygen that damaged his brain and caused his heart to stop.

“Can Fentanyl also Cause Death Due to Low Oxygen?” Mr. Nelson asked the doctor twice in a row.

“Your answer is yes, but only in part,” said Dr. Tobin responded and when questioned by the prosecutor said that people who die from a fentanyl overdose often first fall into a coma. He said that Mr. Floyd never fell into a coma.

Dr. Tobin testified that he could tell that Floyd lost consciousness and that his oxygen was depleted about three minutes before Chauvin got off him.

Dr. Tobin pointed out the way Mr. Floyd used his fingers and knuckles against the street and the tire of a police car, as a sign of how anxious his breathing had become.

“He is completely dependent on getting air on the right side,” said Dr. Tobin said. ‘So he uses his fingers and his knuckles against the street to try to turn the right side of his chest. This is his only way of trying to get air to get into the right lung. ”

Sometimes dr. Tobin invited jurors to feel their own necks as he explained what was happening to Mr. Floyd’s body while being held. Many followed his instructions, and continued to do so even after the judge told them that kind of participation was voluntary.

Dr. Tobin took the stand before Andrew Baker, the Hennepin County medical examiner, who would testify Friday. The testimony of dr. Baker, who attended the official autopsy of Mr. Floyd did, is expected to be instrumental in helping the jury determine what caused his death.

Dr. Baker announced the death of Mr. Floyd was pronounced murdered – meaning that someone else’s actions contributed to his death – but he told the federal authorities investigating the case that he had no evidence of suffocation or injury to Mr.

Mr. Chauvin is charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter, and prosecutors have argued that the knee he sustained for more than nine minutes on Mr. Floyd’s neck and back was sitting, excessive force was what led to the death of Mr. Floyd.

Mr. Nelson told judges earlier in the trial that Floyd died “due to hypertension, his coronary heart disease, the intake of methamphetamine and fentanyl and the adrenaline flowing through his body.”

Mr. Chauvin pleaded not guilty. He is the first of the four former officers involved in the death of Mr. Floyd who stood trial. The other three – two that Mr. Chauvin helped Mr. Floyd, and another who kept bystanders away – has been charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and is expected to be tried in late summer.

Write to Jacob Gershman by [email protected]